Would you believe that this used to be a bus?

Bengaluru: Hemmed in by the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have been commandeering every kind of infrastructure they can lay their hands on and repurposing it to fight the deadly virus.

First we saw stadiums and railway coaches converted into quarantine facilities. Then we saw public transport buses turned into disinfection corridors.

Now, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has stepped up to put its idle fleet to good use. The Mysuru division of KSRTC has turned some of its buses into mobile fever clinics to screen people for influenza-like symptoms, which may be a sign of a coronavirus infection. 

These souped-up mobile clinics will be totally refitted with medical facilities exclusively dedicated to coronavirus containment zones.

These clinics on wheels are ideal for villages that are underserved by the present health infrastructure. Take a vallage like Mosambayanahalli. One person in that village has tested positive for coronavirus infection, and there is apprehension that the virus has spread to others in the vicinity. But how to find out? It’s impossible to cart the whole village to the primary health centre, which is quite a distance away.

The answer is to send a mobile clinic to the village a conduct a preliminary screening for COVID symptoms.

Each refitted bus will have two compartments: one for testing with privacy, a bed, a doctor’a chamber, a washbasin, a hand wash; and the other for a doctor and a nurse.